Over the last number of years many of us have faced challenges that seemed insurmountable, we at times felt helpless and totally reliant on God to supply not only our need but our strength and vision to find our way. During these times Pastor Rick has been an encourager a facilitator in conflict and a vessel by which God could provide guidance and strength in many of those dark valleys.
However today he faces a unique and challenging trial of his own, many of you our aware that recently he had a colonoscopy. Last Wednesday it was mentioned and many of us chuckled as he shared a little about his perception of the experience. What you did not know was that they had found in a polyp during that procedure which was suspicious in nature and a biopsy was taken. It was decided to wait till we had more information to share it with the church. On Friday we found out the results of that biopsy. The polyp which is near his rectum was cancerous and he was diagnosed with rectal cancer. It is roughly the size of a quarter. Rick was not prepared for this news much like you are not prepared for it now, however now is a time when we as a church kick our faith into high gear and stand together to hold up the hands of our pastor. I do not need to tell you that with bad storms rain also falls and as much as we would like it to rain while the sun is out and the sky is clear, it does not happen that way.
The plan of treatment is still yet to be determined, but the scenario will go something like this. On Wednesday Bro. Rick will go in for an ultrasound followed by a Pet Scan to determine if the cancer has traveled to any other parts of his body. So our main focus of prayer in the next several days will be that these tests come back negative and that the polyp has not been to invasive. He will then meet with an oncologist who will determine his course for chemo therapy and radiation treatments. Now remember all these things our under control of the Chief physician and we will believe the report of the Lord. Our prayer will be that this cyst completely disappears.
The devil would like to take this opportunity to instill fear not only in my brothers heart but in the church as well. This will only happen if we allow it. The Bible tells us that we should encourage one another in our most precious faith. This will be our job as well. This is not a death sentence it is a time for us to be prepared to reap a harvest for certainly satan has saw something greater that we have seen. We will not withdraw or battan down our hatches, we will make room in our barn for a harvest which is on our doorsteps and is already flowing in to our assembly. God did not give us a Spirit of Fear but of a sound mind.
With the recent addition to our pastoral staff of Bro. Calhoun we will work to take some of the pressures off of our pastor over the next several months as he goes through treatment, (if this is what the Lord chooses for him). With his permission we have taken him off the preaching schedule and given him the opportunity to preach whenever he feels like he can. This will remove additional pressure from him and give him the opportunity to be involved as much or as little as he is able.
On your part you will need to step back and realize that you will have to be more dependant on God in your own problems. Which is a good thing. Each member of our staff has unique abilities and it seems God has placed us here for such a time as this. So take advantage of them. Your words should be words of encouragement and consoling in not only your conversations with each other but with Pastor Kielley. We our not prophets of doom, but ambassadors of hope.
In a moment I am going to have Pastor Rick come and stand here before this pulpit. I am going to then ask that the Kielley family stand around him, then the pastors followed by the trustee board, and then the church, this will be symbolic of our assembly’s response to satans challenge. Now what you may not see is that there is a host of angels present here this morning who also stand beside us in this battle, we do not fight alone, remember the weapons of our warfare our not carnal but they our mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. Our God stands in this place this morning to remind us that our challenges in life our his opportunities to provide blessings. I have shared all of this information with you so that you would not have to ask Pastor Rick a thousand questions. His focus needs to be on the healer and not on the disease.
As we receive more information we will make sure that you our aware of it so that we can be diligent and accurate in how we pray. Before I have you come up I want you to look at something that happened last Sunday during our Sunday School program. In this picture you will see Pastor Kielley standing at the altar and one of our little lambs come up and place her hand on his posterior. She raises her other hand up to heaven and begins to pray very earnestly, as God moved on this little child and she has prayed so must we. When we pray this morning lets place one hand on the person in front of us and lift our other hand to God, and let it be a conduit of power and healing to our Pastor.
Thanks,
Pastor Steve Kielley